If you pre-ordered your iPhone 5, either through Apple or your wireless provider, and didn’t get it in within the first hour or so, chances are you haven’t received the handset yet. Shipping estimates slipped to two weeks shortly after retailers began taking pre-orders last Friday.

But good news today for those of you that fall into that category. It appears that Apple has started shipping many “late” iPhone 5 pre-orders earlier than expected…

“I ordered mine around noon PT the morning after they went on sale and was quoted a delivery date of October 5. To my surprise, the phone actually shipped on Friday, just before Apple’s own stores opened, and it has since found its way from Foxconn’s assembly plant in Zhengzhou, China to UPS Worldport in Kentucky. At this rate, it will likely arrive on Monday morning.”

And apparently he’s not the only one. Lardinois points to a lengthy thread in Apple’s Support forums that’s filled with accounts of “late” iPhone 5 pre-orderers claiming that their handsets are tracking to arrive much earlier than their original quotes.

There doesn’t seem to be any kind of pattern as to who is getting their iPhones shipped early and who isn’t. But needless to say, it’s definitely worth checking into.

Did your iPhone 5 order ship earlier than expected? Let us know in the comments below.